Hao Jin

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Hao Jin

(Person)

Aliases

The Ruby Phoenix

Titles

Grandmaster

Alignment

Lawful neutral

Ancestry/Species

Human (Tian)

Class

Sorcerer 20 / Archmage 9

Gender

Female

Homeland

Axis (originally Goka, Tian Xia)

Deity

Abadar

Born

4042 AR

Died

Early 41st century AR; frequently resurrected

Images of Hao Jin

Source: Tapestry's Trial, pg(s). 8 (1E)
Legends, pg(s). 46–49 (2E)

Hao Jin is a powerful sorceress who lives in the city of Goka, on the continent of Tian Xia. She is also known as the Ruby Phoenix for her bright red hair that grows an ever-brighter shade of red whenever she arises from the dead by resurrection magic.

Background

Childhood

Hao Jin was born in 4042 AR in Goka to an Abadaran priestess and a painter who emphasised the importance of order and creativity in her life. She loved exploring the Empress Yin Museum, home to countless relics from Yixing, whose stewards were fond of her but often told her to be more careful around the exhibits. Her recklessness eventually burnt the museum, killing Hao Jin and destroying countless exhibits. Her parents had her resurrected at great expense, the side-effects of which changed her hair from black to bright red and ignited her talent as a sorcerer.

Collection

Hao Jin's resurrection, and the irrevocable damage she did to the museum, changed her. As her powers developed, Hao Jin sought to recreate her deity Abadar's collection of magic items, wealth, and treasure in a mortal version of the First Vault in order to preserve cultures at risk of destruction.

After living for several centuries, in part thanks to her frequent use of resurrection magic, Hao Jin succeeded in accumulating an impressive collection but eventually realized that her hoard was only safe while she lived. In response, Hao Jin strove for immortality, driven by her desire to acquire the greatest collection of magical wonders from across Golarion, but such power consistently eluded her. Fearing her collection would be stolen, broken up, or simply lost to history, she made plans for her eventual permanent demise.

The crown jewel of Hao Jin's collection was the Hao Jin Tapestry, a personal demiplane that she created to house entire communities and geographical features and safeguard her most dangerous treasures.

Ruby Phoenix Tournament

Among her many contracts and pacts, Hao Jin made an arrangement with the Temple of Abadar in Goka. If she did not return to the temple after a decade and a day, then she would be declared dead and a competition of martial skills would be held every decade after that date. Under supervision from the clergy of Abadar, the greatest combatants of the age would compete for the fame and glory of emerging the ultimate warrior. The victor would then choose a single item as a final prize from Hao Jin's collection. These games would be called the Ruby Phoenix Tournament.

Content with her creation, Hao Jin departed Golarion for good and moved to Axis. By 4391 AR, Hao Jin had not returned to the temple of Abadar for ten years. In accordance with her agreement, the priests of Abadar enacted her contract and made plans to create the first Ruby Phoenix Tournament. It would be held in a decade's time, in 4401 AR.

Recent events

Hao Jin is an expert in the elements.

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Relationships

Syndara

Hao Jin had a close relationship with the axiomite Syndara the Sculptor who taught her how to craft demiplanes. When her talent surpassed his, he grew jealous and began to create evil demiplanes. Upon learning that Syndara was creating such a demiplane for Sok Jyun-son, a vicious despot in Tian Xia, she was horrified that Syndara would aid the cruelty of a man so close to her homeland and she attempted to absorb the demiplane, the Glass Lighthouse, into the Hao Jin Tapestry. Syndara and Hao Jin fought for days across numerous demiplanes with Hao Jin emerging as the victor. She sealed Syndara in the Glass Lighthouse and placed it inside her tapestry.

When Hao Jin voluntarily relinquished her memories of creating the Hao Jin Tapestry to Axis, she also lost most of her memories of her former master, recalling only that she had worked with him in the past.

Empress Nai Yan Fei

Hao Jin has formed a partnership with Empress Nai Yan Fei since her return to Goka and has consulted her on Gokan matters.

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Bao Ting

Bao Ting is a yaoguai that was once Hao Jin's hair comb. It was granted supernatural life and sentience after her exposure to Hao Jin's explosive sorcerous transformation as a child. Hao Jin counts Bao Ting as her oldest surviving companion.

Bachuan

Hao Jin was an early investor in Bachuan when the nation opened itself to foreign investment after a long period of bans on private ownership of property. She executed a century-long lease on a swath of the Szaezan Crags to serve as a new home for the Tapestry People evacuated from the Hao Jin Tapestry, which was among the largest of these first investments. Proposals to regulate activities of the Tapestry People have mostly failed in the nation's Sun Chamber of rulership in order to avoid offending Hao Jin. Hao Jin and her companions also opened part of the long-sealed Ten Thousand Summer Palace in Bachuan using zodiac-themed statues from Imperial Lung Wa.

Li Xian

The underworld dragon Li Xian lairs near the Szaezan Crags of Bachuan, and his lifelong treasure-exchanging relationship with Hao Jin is said to have indebted the dragon to her enough to facilitate the region's lease and his services in safeguarding its people.

Diguo-Dashu and Round Mountain

Hao Jin halted an invasion of Lung Wa by the ratfolk of Diguo-Dashu in 6751 IC by transporting a 10-mile-wide sphere of the Darklands of Tian Xia to her tapestry demiplane, where the earthen sphere became known as Round Mountain. She returned Round Mountain and its remaining inhabitants to southwestern Po Li in 7219 IC.

Qiu

A former bandit, the kitsune Qiu once attempted to rob Hao Jin but later aided her in her attempts to bring peace to wartorn parts of Tian Xia. Qiu now serves as Hao Jin's parliamentary assistant and also helps to insulate her from social predators seeking her gifts.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

Additional works published by Paizo Inc. in which Hao Jin appears:

• Ageless Ambitions
• The Blakros Matrimony
• Blood Under Absalom
• Countdown to Round Mountain
• The Deepmarket Deception
• The Dog Pharaoh's Tomb
• The Elven Entanglement
• The Fabric of Reality
• Fragments of Antiquity
• From Under Ice
• The Green Market
• The Hao Jin Cataclysm
• The Hao Jin Hierophant
• The Icebound Outpost
• Pagoda of the Rat (scenario)
• Portal of the Sacred Rune
• Prisoners of the Electric Castle
• The Sealed Gate
• Serpent's Rise
• Siege of Serpents
• Snakes in the Fold
• Storming the Diamond Gate
• The Sundered Path
• Tapestry's Toil
• Tapestry's Trial
• The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment
• Ward Asunder
• Where Mammoths Dare Not Tread